Arsenal endured a torrid start to their Premier League campaign as they fell to a two-goal opening day loss at Brentford last Friday night.
It followed a miserable campaign for the Gunners which concluded with the club missing out on qualification for European football for the first time in 25 years.
The extent of the Mikel Arteta’s side’s fall in recent years has been well documented but the perception that the situation could become a lot worse has now been made clear in the betting markets.
The Gunners have already seen their relegation odds slashed from 50/1 to just 25/1 on Ladbrokes, with a flood of punters now backing the club to be relegated this campaign.
The bookmakers have revealed that Arsenal are the third best-backed team in the division to face the drop, with 9.2 percent of all relegation bets favouring the Gunners.
Ralph Hassenhuttl’s Southampton - who slumped to an opening day 3-1 loss at Everton - have the most backers to be relegated, with 12.2 percent of punters believing the Saints are facing the drop this campaign.
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The only other team to edge out the Gunners are Crystal Palace, where former Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira is now at the helm.
The Eagles also endured a difficult start to the season as they meekly went down to a three-goal loss at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea in Vieira's first game at the helm.
It is Arsenal whose name stands out amongst the list of clubs though - the Gunners have only ever been relegated once in their distinguished history, and that came before the First World War.
Then named Woolwich Arsenal - after the area of London in which they originated before relocating to the north of the city - they finished at the foot of the standings in the 1912/13 season with just three victories from 38 league matches.
Alex Apati of Ladbrokes said: "Arsenal are more likely to go down than win this year's Premier League, and this season punters are seemingly more than convinced Mikel Arteta's men have a relegation scrap on their hands."
Next up for Arsenal is a hugely difficult task as they host Chelsea on Sunday - with the pressure immediately on Arteta in the dugout to produce results.
The club announced the signing of Martin Odegaard from Real Madrid on Friday while a deal for Sheffield United goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale is close - which would take their summer spending up to £130million.
Brentford - who ousted the Gunners on the opening day - are next on the list with 8.4 percent of bettors putting money on the Bees to go straight down, with Wolves on 8.1 percent while both Brighton and Newcastles are on 8 percent.
Norwich (6.5 percent), Leeds United (5.6 percent) and Burnley (4.7 percent) complete the top ten list.
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